Prisoner 365
by este5454
Summary: James Anderson, Prisoner 365, is sent to the ground. A dream quickly tarnished by numerous threats. He will have to go through loss, pain and fear If he wants to survive. (Rated M- Swearing and Violence)
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: The 100 and all it's character are not my property. I make no profit off of this. The only thing that belongs to me is the character of James Anderson.**

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"Prisoner 365 get up and face the wall"

James Anderson wakes up with a jump. He quickly gets up and faces the wall. He did not know why the guards were bothering him, it was just past lunchtime and dinner wouldn't be for hours. _They can't be floating me, I'm still months away from turning eighteen,_ he reasons within his mind, perhaps it was best to ask the guards directly.

"What is this? What is happening?", He asks calmly. There was no need to be agitated yet, perhaps it was a surprise inspection of his cell. Those were common.

"We're sending you away" The guard says with a sneer on his face. James is overcome with worry when he hears a lock opening, quickly he turns his head around to locate the source of the sound. Only catching a glimpse of metal wristbands, he begins to struggle against the guard that was holding him. "Let me go, you can't execute me. I...i haven't turned eighteen yet!".

Both guards ignore his pleading, the guard that was holding him, Daniel his tag read, forcibly holds up James' right arm while the second guard holding a metal wristband in his hand approaches and snaps the metal device around his wrist. Thankfully soon after Daniel decides to reply, "You're being sent to the ground."

James says nothing after that, he had nothing to say. _The Ark is sending him to his doom_ , he thinks sadly. He is a criminal, it makes sense they would want get rid of criminals for their sick experiments. They wouldn't send the 'good' civilians of the Ark. Exiting his cell he immediately hears the sound of other criminals in the Sky Box, they were either trying futilely to fight against the guard or demanding answers. _Fools_ , the guards wouldn't answer to these kids, Daniel was an anomaly, who probably took pity on him and decided to be kind just this once. It didn't matter, nothing mattered, The Ark was sending them to die on the ground. Why? Did they not want to waste resources on them anymore, had Jaha finally lost it, was it actually necessary to go to the ground? James did not have the time to ponder questions anymore, the guards were shoving him into some sort of ship. James quickly takes his seat next to a blonde girl who was unconscious.

After he straps himself in, someone tries and fails to throw him off his seat. Looking up at his attacker, he realizes it's Wells Jaha, the prince of The Ark. "What do you think you're doing Wells?" He nearly yells

"Get off she's my friend, I'm sitting next to her" Wells' words are laced with anger, and either arrogance or entitlement. James didn't want to move he had already sat down, and his head had been hurting since morning. James was actually prone to headache, he had them often growing up, it would put him in bed, and render him immobile sometimes for days at a time. Eventually he had gotten accustomed to the pain and managed to ignore it if he could focus on something else Unfortunately it seemed his time in the Sky Box had nearly stripped away years of hard work. The extreme pain was back, he probably couldn't physically move if he wanted to. Instead he tries to settle Wells down with words. "Wells I got here first, and I'm already strapped in. Sit next to me if you want. You can talk to her that way."

"Move now, I have to talk to her, I have explain"

"We're about to drop Wells either sit down next to me or find another seat"

An angry look passes over Wells, after a few tense seconds of indecision he walks away. Few minutes later the ship drops. He looks around and sees dozens of teenagers either in fear, awe or excitement. The lull of the conversation throughout the ship soothes his headache. Next to him the girl wakes up. " Welcome back, are you okay? You were unconscious for a while." He had already made an assumption on who the girl was when he was shoved in the ship, the confrontation with Wells simply exacerbated the proof. This girl was more than likely Clarke Griffin, the infamous girl who was locked up in solitary for a year. He could've been blunt and asked why she was in solitary, but he figured she probably wouldn't want to talk about something so private.

Clarke sharply glances up as the sound of his voice reaches her, a guarded look on her face, she promptly says "I'm fine, the guards hit me with a sedative. My name is Clarke Griffin, who are you?"

His assumption was correct, this was indeed Clarke Griffin. Now he just had to get her to reveal the reason for her incarceration. His insatiable curiosity, that usually got him in trouble more often than not, would demand no less. "The name's James Anderson, excited to be on the ground how about you?" He asked sarcastically.

"Better than being in a tiny cell. James Anderson... you're the one who built and coded robots to be your slaves." Clarke replies bluntly

He feels frustration at her insinuations, "They weren't slaves, they were my little helpers. They got handed me my clothes. Brought me drinks that I stashed away inside their storage compartment, and so much more. They were incredibly useful, and I always maintained them properly". At his response, he sees Clarke's mouth start turning upward into a smile. Before he can point it out, the ship starts rattling, and several TV monitor turn on. James doesn't care enough to pay attention to the whole speech Jaha was making, but he did listen to the main points: the 100 were expendables, Mount Weather had supplies, and sonething or else about hope. Truthfully he kept his attention on Clarke, wanting to continue conversation, he begins to talk. "You kn-"

"The Space bandit strikes", Some girl yells, James turns his head, sees someone with an old worn out beanie on his head floating and apparently talking to Wells. He moves his head as close as he could and listens.

"-dad floated me after all" Comes from the floating boy. James knew that voice.

"Finn?!" He yells out in concern, what was that idiot doing. Reentry would jar the ship and potentially injure him.

"Hey, Mr. Robot, why don't you join me. Have some fun"

"Collins you moron, sit down you'll get injured." Finn simply didn't listen to him much to his chagrin, two other boys began loosening their straps, before James could yell at them to stop, Clarke beat him to it.

"No Stop, you'll get hurt." The boys didn't listen to her either, and as soon as they began floating the Ship made a violent stopping motion that sent all three of them against the wall quite harshly.

"SHIT, Finn you alright?"  
"Finn are you okay?" Both him and Clarke shout at the same time. No response. panic sets in. _Fuck, fuck, Finn was dead. Not even on the ground and he's fucking dead_. Everyone was shouting, the lights were flickering, the fear on Clarke's face did not reassure him of their survival.

"Finn you useless bastard, answer me! You still alive?!". Nothing.

Clarke sensing his distress, tries to comfort him "The ship is a century old right. maybe the rockets just take time to kick in right?"

"You're right the rockets should kick in any second now." He decides to send a prayer to whatever deity was willing to help, _Please don't let us die right now, Please_. With the prayer sent. He grabs Clarke's hand, to comfort her of course. He was perfectly fucking calm. Cool as a cucumber. Slowly the torture finally stops, the lights stop flickering and silence spreads throughout the ship. They had survived. No not everyone survived, his mind darkly reminds him. He instantly unhooks himself and runs over to Finn, Clarke running right behind him. She checks his pulse. Seconds later shes looks at him with pity and shakes her head. Finn was Dead.


	2. Chapter 1:We're Back

**Disclaimer: The 100 and all its characters do not belong to me, I make no profit off of this. The only thing I claim is James Anderson.  
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Chapter 1: We're back!

James couldn't breathe, couldn't focus, couldn't move. Finn Collins was dead. His friend was dead. Taking his eyes off of Finn, he tried to swallow the knot in his throat and asked, " How? How did he?" he took another breath in, "Was it the crash against the wall?"

"His body was pointed towards the wall, wh...when the parachute was deployed, he crashed headfirst into the wall. His neck broke on impact." Clarke said coldly. It reminded him of the time the doctor told him his mother was dead. Clarke had traces of compassion, hidden underneath her stoic voice. The other doctor never did.

Finn had died because of him, had he given his seat to Wells he wouldn't have been near the wall. He would've had a chance to live. His fault.

 _Monster  
He's dead because of you  
No, no I didn't. This wasn't me  
You decided to be selfish. Too lazy to get up and change your seat.  
Selfish  
Monster  
Killer  
No, No! Finn decided to float, I didn't influence him, how could I have ever known, I'm not a kill-_

He lost his breath again, lost in the guilt he could barely hear what Clarke was saying. Or was she yelling? He should listen to her if she was yelling, it was probably something important.

"out, breath slowly in, out like this follow my voice" He heard Clarke repeating. Orders that's what they were, he was good at following orders. Slowly his breath slowed and he matched her breaths. Once he came to his senses, he found himself looking into a pair of cerulean eyes. He widened his eyes, Clarke's face had been right in front of him the whole time. She was saying something else, he decided to focus.

"Are you okay? can you breathe normally, you had a panic attack."

His throat was dry, " Yes, I'm fine. I'm alright." A long pause, "He, he was my friend, I used to play with him when I was a kid"

Clarke looked sorrowful for a second, then her face set in a stony expression and said in a strict tone "We need to go, everyone's about to go outside. The air might be toxic"

James nodded, both got up from the crouching position they were in. They headed towards the ladder and began climbing down, as they reached the final rung, they saw a young man with dark haired that was gelled back wearing a guards uniform, holding back a girl who was trying to attack another member of the 100.

"Octavia no. Let's give them something else to remember you by" the man said

"Yeah? Like what?" the girl responded clearly agitated.

James remembered hearing about the girl, Octavia Blake. She was put in the Sky Box because her mother had decided to have a second child. That meant the older man was Bellamy Blake, the firstborn Blake. If he remembered correctly, rumours were Bellamy had lost his spot as a guard and had become a janitor. This created an interesting dilemma, why and how did a janitor get on the ship in the first place?

"Like being the first person on the ground in 100 years." Said Bellamy.

Before Bellamy could open the hatch, Clarke quickly stepped up and in a loud voice said "Stop, the air could be toxic."

While that was true, James figured they would either die of starvation inside the ship or the air would kill them swiftly. Bellamy had the same idea since he responded with "If the air is toxic, we're all dead, anyway.

While incredibly pessimistic of the older Blake sibling, the statement was true. Clarke backed down and Bellamy pulled down the lever.

The first thing he heard actually was the door hissing open, smoke rushed in and for a moment he thought the air was truly toxic. That notion passed quickly when the smoke passed and sunlight broke through and hit him straight in the face. He shielded his eyes from the sudden brightness, he could see everyone was hesitant to walk down the ramp, fortunately, it seemed Octavia had some courage and with a deep breath, she began walking down the ramp slowly. As soon as she stepped foot on the actual ground, she suddenly threw her hands in the air and yelled: "We're back bitches!"

The 100 delinquents broke out of their stupor and with wide grins on their faces they began to run and enjoy Earth. James felt all of them rushing past him as if he wasn't there. Truthfully he didn't feel like celebrating, grief still had a deep hold on him. While others were running around the ship, he examined the scenery. Green everywhere, Earth was truly beautiful. The heat of the sun felt good on his skin, the wind blew through his wavy brown hair and it felt fantastic. Oh the oxygen as well, no more recycled crap from the Ark. This was real oxygen produced by trees and plants throughout the planet. It smelled almost sweet, opposite to the stale air everyone was forced to breathe on the Ark.

His musing was interrupted by Clarke walking past him, what seemed like a map in hand. She had brought him down from whatever happened before in front of Finn. She had said it had been a panic attack. He decided he didn't like these attacks, they made him feel horribly constricted and now his headache had come back with a vengeance. He figured he should probably thank her for what she had done, so he followed her.

Once he reached her, he found himself looking at another mountain far away on the horizon. There was what seemed to be a forest between the two mountains. Perhaps it was full of animals, they could hunt for food. A river would be nice, it was great now but in a week or two everyone would start smelling rancid. Finding a place to bathe would be extremely beneficial for morale. They could probably start boiling-

"You're staring at me. What do you want?" Clarke interrupted his thoughts again. She always seems to do that. Turning towards her, he muttered, "Thank you for back there."

Clarke noticing his reclusive behavior immediately replied: "It's fine it happens to everyone."

Wanting to move past the touchy subject James coughed and mentioned the map. "So what are you trying to look for?"

"Do you see that peak over there?" He turns his head towards the mountain and nods, " That's mount weather, there are miles of forest between us and our next source of food"

"They dropped us on the wrong mountain then. How fucking rude of them"

"It wasn't on purpose. The Ark needs us to live"

That didn't make any sense, he had thought the Ark hated them. Had sent them to down to earth as some sick variation of floating. This girl knew something, only knowledge would make Jaha choose to put her in solitary. He needed to know what she knew.

"The Ark believes the ground should not be safe for another century, why would they send us on a mission where our chances of survival were thought to be non-existent? How could they count our survival?"

" Desperation. The Ark is dying, the life support system will give out in 3 months. My father was the engineer who found the flaw, he wanted to tell the public and I was gonna help him. Wells told his father and they floated mine."

James didn't say anything after that, he simply headed back towards the dropship. Clarke followed shortly, set the map against a hard surface. He noticed Wells had started talking to Clarke, something about the communications system being down. When Clarke began drawing on the map he made his way over.

"What are you trying to figure out now?" He asked

"The line drawn is gonna tell me how long the distance between us and Mount Weather. It looks to be about 20 miles."

One of the delinquents, a boy with goggles on his head walked up next to them and said " Wow cool a map, they got a bar near here. I'll buy you a beer."

Wells grabbed the boy's arm sharply and pushed him back. "Do you mind?"

Before both boys could start arguing, another one of the 100, a boy with slicked back hair, wearing a green shirt and a dark blue jacket, interrupted "Hey hey hey, hands off he's with us"

Wells realizing, the implication of getting into a fight with the boy decided to calm down, he said: "relax, we're just trying to find out where we are."

Bellamy Blake cut in and said "We're on the ground, that not good enough for you"

Before Wells or anyone else decided to join the conversation, James spoke with as much authority as he could muster "No, it's not good enough for me, we have no reliable source of food or water. No shelter to protect us from a potential predator. How long people start dying, a week? Two? I hate Jaha, but he is right, going to Mount Weather is the best way for us to ensure our survival."

"Exactly who decided you were in charge?" Came from Octavia

"This isn't about who's in charge, this is about surviving. It's 20 miles from here to Mount Weather, 20 miles from everything we'd need to survive."

"I've got a better idea, how about we let the privileged go. Do the hard work for a change, and since you seem so eager to be on their side. Why don't you join them? If it's so important, find it for us. To ensure our survival like you said." said Bellamy.

The rest of the 100 cheered for Bellamy's idea, they were clearly on his side right now. Their hatred for the Ark too much to listen to Jaha's instruction. Before he could open his mouth and try to convince them again, he was pushed from behind, his ankle seems to sprain and he could hear Clarke worried voice as she called his name. He looked up from his position on the floor, it was the boy from before with the green shirt. It seemed he had gotten tired of his support of Jaha and had attacked him. Before anything else could happen Wells stepped in, stopping the fight for now.

Both Clarke and Wells helped him up. They moved him further away from the population and set him with his back against the wall of the dropship. After stretching his legs out, Clarke started to move his foot. The pain came instantly, it seemed his ankle was badly hurt. That didn't matter right now though Mount Weather did.

"I can't go to Mount Weather like this, you'll need to bring some people."

Clarke turned around and told the boy with the goggles and his friend in the red jacket, who looked to be of Asian descent. That they needed their help carrying food. They revealed their names were Jasper and Monty respectively. With 3 people accompanying Clarke he felt good letting her go. He trusted her to bring the food back, and she told him as such. Before they could set off, James remembered his question from earlier and he voiced his concern "Wells, you said the communications system were down, how are they supposed to know we're alive?"

"Those wristbands monitor our vital. As long as we keep them on, they'll transmit information to the Ark. Letting them know we're still alive."

With his worries settled, the group left him there sitting. He tried to close his eyes and block out both a headache and the pain in his left ankle. Slowly he stood up and made his way inside the dropship. He sat down on the floor away from the entrance, this way the heat of the sun wasn't hitting him. With Clarke and Wells away, he had time to think, his friends? Were they even friends? Clarke was strict, but she had a kindness underneath her demeanor. Wells was complicated his first interaction wasn't on the best of terms. He could understand a bit more now, it seemed Wells had betrayed his friend and he had wanted to make amends before they died on the ground. Yet he had seen no outward reaction from Wells that would indicate his desire for friendship, he had been close friends with Clarke however. Starting off again would probably be for the best if he wanted to keep both of them as close friends. Clarke wouldn't forgive Wells, so soon but James doubted she would stay angry at him for the rest of her life. He believed she, in time, would forgive Wells. Starting out anew with Wells would be best, James desperately needed some friends if he wanted to survive the ground.

Another mystery to solve was Bellamy, the reason for him being on the ground was his sister. That much was obvious, but how had he gotten into the ship? How did he have a guard uniform? He could theoretically guess he had help from someone, a guard probably since Bellamy was wearing a uniform. Why would a guard help him? Guards were huge asshole, they didn't do things out of selflessness. Bribery? No, once the Ark found out what did happen, they would be searching through every guard. They wouldn't risk the danger out of greed. A deal then. Bellamy had made an exchange for getting on the ground. Perhaps it was blackmail, a guard being forced to help made much more sense. Especially if Bellamy had been a guard at some point, he would've learned secret only guards knew. Yes, blackmail made more sense, for now at least. He would have to gather as much proof before confronting Bellamy.

"Hey, you look deep in thought. Angry you're little girlfriend left you for the prince?"

James looked up at the sound of a female voice shook him out of his thoughts. It was Octavia. This could be an opportunity to find out more about her brother, but he had to do it carefully. She couldn't know he was suspicious of her brother, first she wouldn't react well, second if she knew she would tell Bellamy. Who knew what Bellamy would do, he had already gotten people to see him as the leader.

"Just trying to figure out how I'm gonna survive"

"You're so serious, we're on the ground far away from the chancellor. Enjoy the freedom."

"I enjoy living, considering what your brother did. It seems like the rest don't really seem to care."

"Bellamy is a good person, he risked his life to protect me. He has faith in these people. It's you who doesn't have any faith in them."

Bellamy had come down for Octavia. Good, yet he needed more information. "Your brother pretends to be one of the 100, but if I remember correctly he used to be a guard once. The very same thing these people hate. What right does he have to pretend to understand us? He doesn't, he never will."

"Yeah he used to be one, and when they found me they floated my mother, forced him to do dirty work. They would've killed me if they hadn't sent us down. Killed me for being born." While she was talking, she had come much closer to him. So much he had to stand up, just so she wouldn't look down on him. Of course, standing up so quickly aggravated his ankle, and he immediately crashed into a heap. The anger drained from Octavia a face and she crouched down to help him.

"Are you okay? Did you hurt your ankle again?"

"Go outside, get me a branch or a stick I can use. Search near the fallen trees."

Seeing the hesitation on her face he urged her "Go, I'll be fine. Just get me something I can walk with. I'm tired of sitting down."

With that Octavia left him alone, he looked around the ship, looking for any supplies. Spare parts of metal were lying around, some pieces looked jagged and sharp. If he could get wood from the fallen trees and something string like, he could make a crude knife. There were the red straps on the upper levers he could strip down for string. As soon as Octavia came back he would get to work.

Octavia came soon enough, she had what looked to be a big sturdy branch that was a little bent in the middle but that was fine. With some effort, he got up again, this time slowly. Once he was up Octavia handed him the stick and she put his arms around her shoulders in an attempt to help him walk outside. Slowly both made it outside, the day was still bright. The sun looked to be set in a few hours, the kids were running around playing uncaring of their survival. Some false confidence given to them by Bellamy. During his inspection of the 100, he had approached "Octavia get away from him. You what the hell do you think you're doing with my sister?"

Bellamy's loud voice had brought the attention of everyone surrounding them. Before James could explain himself, Octavia voices matched her brother, "Bellamy, I can take care of myself. If I want to help him, you can't stop me."

"O, he's on the side of the privileged. I'm just looking out for you!"

Not wanting to widen the rift between the sibling, James took his arm off of Octavia. Octavia sent him a scathing look, he gave her a small wave to let her know he was okay and walked off towards the fallen trees. Once he made it to the trees he began searching for moss, thankfully the trees seemed to be full of it. He reached down for the nearest tree at his feet and began taking off the moss, wrapping it around his hand as he walked back to the ship. As he was walking back he heard Bellamy's voice

"Unless we stop it. You don't actually think they're gonna forgive your crimes. Even if they do then what? Guys like us are gonna become model citizens now, get jobs, if we're lucky, we'll be picking up their trash."

As Bellamy was talking, James had slowly come closer. He could see Bellamy was turned towards two other boys, one was the one who had kicked his ankle, the other was a dark-skinned male. It seemed the two boys were inseparable. Staying hidden behind the corner of the dropship he continued to listen.

"What's your point," said the dark-skinned one

"No, I got a question. They locked you up, dumped you down here like lab rats to die. So why are you helping them?"

"Like hell we are"

"You're wearing those bracelets aren't you. Right now those things are telling them whether it's safe to come down here or not"

James decided to intervene, he knew what Bellamy was doing, he was using their hatred of the Ark to manipulate them into taking off the bracelets. Hundreds would die if not hundreds, he couldn't let this happen. Stepping out of his hiding place he came up behind Bellamy and began to speak

"Don't take the bracelets off. There's a reason the Ark sent us down here, Clarke told me the life support system is failing, if you make them think you're dying, the Ark will start killing off more and more people to spare air. You know they would, Jaha has no conscious not when it comes to survival. If you do this you'll be killing innocents people, people who live and have lived under Jaha's thumb just as we have. We'll be murderers."  
The man, the one who had hurt his ankle moved forward past Bellamy and replied in an angry tone " So? Why should we care about them? Not one of those innocent people came forward to defend my father when he begged for his life. They were all happy to put their head down and ignore every horrible act Jaha did, and what now we should suddenly care about them?"

When his speech ended, Bellamy added " Murphy's right, they come down and we won't be regular people to them, we'll be seen as criminals. Thrown away as outcasts, punished for everytime we defy Jaha. Is that what you want? To be seen as some criminal, to follow Jaha's word again, if he even lets us live!"

Damn it, he couldn't change their minds right now, they had too much hatred towards the Ark to see what they were doing. Perhaps he could plant the seed that changes their mind, however, a small suggestion that would make them think and as it grew eventually agree to have the Ark come down. "Why do you keep on thinking like that? There's a whole world to live on. Bellamy, you keep on saying how we'll survive without the Ark, yet you keep on thinking that when they come down we have to be a part of the Ark again. Why? Who says that? If they come down we don't have to join them, we can leave, from our own society with our own rules. Let the Ark realize we don't need them anymore, we don't have to do what they want us to do even if they come down. What better way to give Jaha the middle finger than letting him come down here and realize he's become obsolete?"

He quickly walked away before Bellamy could point out the obvious flaws in his statement. He needed Murphy and Bellamy to think about the innocents dying because of their actions, presenting another idea would hopefully make them see reason, in time.

He made it back inside the dropship, sitting down he unraveled the moss from his hand, put it down next to him. He got up once again grabbing his stick he began searching for metal pieces, as he walked throughout the first level of the dropship he found a few discarded pieces on the floor, some were as long as his forearm, some were barely an inch short, he found a few pieces long enough except they were not jagged enough. He eventually found one after a few minutes of searching, it was about three inches long, not extremely sharp but it would have to do. He sat back down next to where the moss was and used the piece of metal to cut a small strip of wood that would serve as his handle from his walking stick. He took apart the moss so it would be thin enough to tie the metal to the wood, he wrapped the thin string of moss around the handle and metal piece creating a tight knot and securing himself a knife of sorts. He went to sleep shortly after, knife in his hand.

He woke up what he assumed was hours later, the dropship was near pitch black, the only light source seemed a small orange glow near the entrance. He could hear people yelling and running. He turned to his side grabbing his walking stick, he used it to get up. Once he stood up he realized his ankle had healed and he didn't need the walking stick anymore, so he left it on the floor, and began limping out of the entrance.

The first thing he could see clearly was a campfire, he realized the sound was actually cheering. A line was formed next to the campfire, all the criminals were taking off their bracelets. It seemed Bellamy and Murphy hadn't taken his words to heart yet, but he could still prod at Bellamy's conscience and good nature if he had those things. Quietly making his way toward the campfire he addressed Bellamy in a loud voice, "So you've made your decision then? Just screw everybody on the Ark?"

"That's right, the people of the Ark had their chance. They gave that up when Jaha sent us to die. We won't be held down by rules anymore! No more Jaha, no more rules to follow, from now on it's whatever the hell we want. You can't change that James, the people have made their choice, they choose freedom! Whatever the hell we want!" Bellamy's voice rose throughout his speech ending in a shout that was followed by thunderous cheering from the rest of the 100. James had thought Bellamy had some decency, at the very least a conscious that would prohibit him from essentially committing suicide. He could've sworn he had seen a regretful look pass over Bellamy when he had revealed the Ark was failing. Was he wrong? Had he misjudged Bellamy, looked at him as some code like one of the machines he had built. Codes could go wrong, certain situations his machines had gone through had compromised their coding. Is that what this was? Some extenuating circumstance that pushed Bellamy, some glitch that formed in Bellamy's code...personality? So many questions, his head hurt again. He began to felt droplets on his skin, he looked up. It was raining.

"We might need this water to drink later," he said to Bellamy

"Whatever you want James," Bellamy said, again just a hint of regret underneath his arrogant exterior. Bellamy Blake confused him. Actually, Bellamy Blake just exhausted him.

He decided to walk back to the dropship, climbed the ladder and found several metal containers that could be used to gather water. He picked one up on each hand, as he made his way down the ladder he decided he would put them far enough away so that the rest of the 100 wouldn't temper with them. He found a nice spot a few minutes walk away from the dropship, the tree's overhang was mostly clear, the rain would land on the ground unobstructed by branches.

After he put down the containers he made his way back inside the dropship, picking up his knife from where he had left it after his nap and settled himself as comfortable as he could right against a corner and fell asleep troubled by the mystery that was Bellamy Blake.

He woke up hours later, the light rays from the rising sun had hit him directly in the face. Seeing no point in falling asleep again since he was up already, he first tested his ankle moving it around in a circular motion, the pain was still slightly there but he could ignore it. It seemed he wouldn't need his stick anymore, thankfully. Yet now he had no idea what he wanted to do, if he had been on the Ark he would've worked on programming his machines to be more efficient, or contacted Raven and talked with her for a while. Her job had always made her sleep early and wake early, Finn usually slept in the most morning. _Finn, he could dig a grave for him_ , his friend deserved as such.

He needed a tool to dig with, a shovel would be extremely convenient, yet he doubted Jaha would be so kind as to grant them such a thing as a shovel. There were still those metal containers on the second level, it would take a long time, but damn it his friend deserved it, Finn deserved a proper burial. Having found a purpose, he and his way up the stairs, and came across a half nude Bellamy Blake. Great, just great, taking his eyes away from Bellamy's incredibly muscular form, he reached for two containers and silently made his way down the stairs. He would dig the grave first then carry Finn's body, his steps were silent as he walked away from the dropship. He found a grassy area near the fallen trees, it was shaded due to the dropship blocking the early morning rays. Gathering the containers he began digging as much as he could, he probably wouldn't do deep, just enough that he could put the body in and cover with dirt.

Hours later he was finally done with digging a hole wide enough for Finn's body to be placed in, the sun had risen and the people had awoken. He could hear their laughs and yells as they continued playing with each other, some were engaging in adult activities, some were simply enjoying the sun's warmth. Peace overcame him, for one brilliant moment as he was surrounded by people, a smile came onto his face. He didn't worry about Bellamy or Clarke or surviving, he just focused on the noises around him.

"Finally enjoying yourself James?"

His peace interrupted he turned his head towards Octavia and smiled "You're the one that told me to."

"I haven't seen you this morning, where were you?"

"Finn, the spacewalker was my friend. I was digging a grave for him, I figured he should get a burial."

"Sorry, I didn't mean to bring up bad memories."

James observed Octavia looking for any sign of pity on her face, yet there was none simply understanding. Her mother, his mind supplied, she had lost someone more precious to her than Finn was to him.

"Truthfully, Finn and I we weren't that close. We knew each other from a mutual friendship." He explained, seeing the look of confusion on her face he decided to elaborate "Her name is Raven. A brilliant zero G mechanic. We met through the head of engineering Sinclair, I was training under him, learning how to program things mostly. She came in applying for zero-G and he made introductions, slowly I began spending more time with her and Finn, Raven was Finn's girlfriend."

"She seems… great… You must be missing her a lot." Octavia said

Tears welled up in his eyes, swallowing the knot in his dry throat he says "I don't know how I'm gonna tell her. The last piece of her family is gone now, she has no one left now." His head was down by the end of his sentence, he couldn't face Raven, he certainly couldn't see the look on Octavia's face when she realized how weak he truly was.

"Tell her it'll hurt, tell her it'll hurt for a long time. Tell her some days the pain will feel like it will never go away. Tell her it's okay to push people away, that no matter how far she wants to run, you'll be there for her. Tell her as long as you live she will always have a family."

This time the tears did fall out of his eyes, Octavia's hands came up to his cheeks and wiped them away. She had tears in her eyes too, but she gathered herself quicker than he did and began pulling him towards the dropship. "C'mon we have to pay respects to your friend."

He followed silently as she tugged on his arm, the heartfelt speech had hit him in his core, in a span of a few minutes she had made him feel both hopeless and full hope. He didn't know what to think about Octavia Blake, she should've been full of anger and spite yet here she was comforting him. What should've been a full-blown psychopath had become someone who he could potentially rely on. Had he been going about this the wrong way? He had been focused on how to slowly take control away from Bellamy, first by talking about survival which seemed to have worked to a small extent before Bellamy had turned it around on him and had named Clarke and Wells as the party leaders, second he had tried to appeal to their conscience, that had fallen flat on its stupid face. These soulless and stubborn bastards didn't give a damn about the Ark or the people, what could he do then? He simply wanted the people of the Ark to be free, that's why he had come down here. His conviction set, he followed Octavia up the ladder, he grabbed Finn's head as she grabbed his legs. slowly as they were making they were to the ladder, Octavia came down first going down low enough that Finn was perpendicular to the floor. He had to reposition his arms to carry Finn by the shoulder as he slowly went down the ladder as well, when Octavia finally put her foot on the dropship floor he had no choice but to jump to the side. It was either that or drop Finn, he landed on his sore ankle aggravating it again. He slowly limped out holding Finn by the head, Octavia wanted to stop and let him rest, but he didn't think he would have the courage to bury Finn at a later time. So they continue to march on slowly, some people stared at them as they walked back, but they ignored it keeping their heads held up, they made it to the grave and slowly deposited Finn's body. He thought about taking his clothes and such but he didn't, even if they could provide supplies for later, it didn't feel right to take his items.

Both James and Octavia started putting the dirt back using the containers that were near, it was much quicker than digging, by the time they were done only about 30 minutes had passed. They both stood in silence in front of the grave one grieving for the loss of a friend, the other stood in support.

After a while, he felt like he should express his gratitude in some way, "Thank you, for doing this. You didn't have to."

"You're my friend, you needed my help. Simple as that." That left him in silence. A silence that was interrupted by a shout from camp. They ran back towards camp, to see what seemed to be Clarke and Wells arguing with Bellamy. "We were attacked by someone, everything we thought we knew about the ground is wrong. There are people living here."

James decided to enter the conversation, "Where's Monty?"

Clarke looked over at him in exasperation and repeated "Like I said we were attacked by someone"

"They threw a spear from far away right through his chest. They took him" Wells chimed in

"The good news is the earth is survivable, the bad news is the Survivors most likely will." It was at this point Clarke noticed the missing wristbands from almost everyone's wrist, she turned to Bellamy in anger, "did you force them to take the wristbands off?! You idiot the life support on the Ark is failing, they'll die up there if they think we died down here. Without their help, we will die down here."

"We already know about the life support, James told everyone. We already made our choice, this is our battle, not theirs, we are stronger than the Survivors. We don't fear them, they should be fearing us!" Bellamy said, once again turning the crowd to his side.

Clarke, James, Wells, Jasper, and Octavia left in disgust heading towards the dropship. "What do we do now?" James asked

"We get Monty back"

Entering the dropship, Clarke went up the ladder instantly to gather her supplies, James went to pick up his knife and followed Wells to gather the parachute. Octavia and Jasper busied themselves with creating makeshift backpacks out of insulation and straps. They were ready a few minutes later before they could leave Clarke and Wells began to argue. "You're not going, Wells"

"You need as much backup as you can get, I'll be fine"

"It's not your safety I'm worried about, it's you." Replied Clarke harshly.

James decided to cut in, "He's right Clarke, we need as many people as we can."

"You're not going either, I need you to stay here."

"What you're going to go by yourself? it's suicide, you need backup"

"I know, but you were the one that built and programmed robots, I need your expertise to contact the Ark and let them know we're alive. You have to stay here."

"Clarke, I only programmed the robots my friend Raven built. I only stole the mechanical pieces and put the code together, if we had an engineer then I could maybe help, theoretically."

Before Clarke could comment her obvious dissatisfaction at his little white lie, Bellamy and Murphy entered the dropship. "Octavia, Jasper you're staying. Murphy and I will go along with Clarke and her friends as backup." Before anyone could protest Bellamy pulled up his shirt, showing off a gun he had on his waist. The gun seemed to satisfy Clarke as she instantly began walking towards the exit.

They walked for hours on end as a group, before Wells stopped them and suggested they split up. This caused another argument with Clarke saying they would be safer if they stuck together, Bellamy had sensed his moment and put the gun to Clarke's face, "We'll continue our search after the Princess takes off her wristband." Clarke being stubborn as always didn't flinch at all as Bellamy cocked the gun.

"The only way my wristband comes off is if I'm dead." The standoff was intense, both sides didn't budge until Bellamy with a heavy sigh, turned the safety back on and put the gun away. He grabbed Murphy and Wells and stomped off angrily, James and Clarke decided to look in another area, while still remaining in shouting distance of Bellamy's group. While they were Clarke it seemed had decided to interrogate him, "You lied to me. You let me believe you had built those robots yourself, but you didn't! I believed you!"

"I know when I let you believe that about me I thought We were gonna die. I didn't think it'd matter in the grand scheme of things. I'm sorry I lied to you Clarke, I won't do it again."

"Prove it, I trusted you with my secret. Now tell me if you didn't get locked up on the Ark because you built robots, what was it for?"

James took a minute to decide if he wanted to tell the truth, he disguised it as trying to get over some particularly difficult type of rock formation in order to form his answer. "I was locked up because the robot I programmed, wasn't programmed for regular tasks like the council told people. I had built them because I knew the Ark was keeping secrets from us, they were tiny little things that would sneak in through the vents and go to restricted rooms. They would gather information by plugging themselves into computer outlets and downloading the data that was on the hard drive."

Clarke looked at him shocked, a thought came to her. "Is that why you got arrested because you wanted to know secrets?"

"Yes, I forgot to erase camera footage of my helper stealing information, after that Kane was able to track it down to me, I stole the parts as well, so no blame could go to Raven. So they locked me up."

"Did you know about being sent to the ground?"

"I didn't, but I did see something else. There's a conspiracy up there to take Jaha out of power, I need to talk to him"

"A conspiracy? You're talking about a coup. Who would want to do such a thing? And why?"

"I don't know, all I saw was shady messages being sent, and conversations being recorded like it was pieces of evidence or something.. That's all that matters right now, that and finding Monty so I can speak to Jaha."

Both continued to walk in silence, making their way through the trees James could see a river beginning to form in his horizon. He started running towards the water. After dodging a series of rocks and branches he finally came upon the river, it seemed to originate from higher up creating a waterfall of sorts. The river wasn't wasn't incredibly large, small enough to walk across it fairly quick. He heard Clarke come up behind him, ignoring her, he searched throughout the river bank for any sign of Monty. Clarke sharply exhaled and said, "Look over there its blood!"

Turning his head to where she was pointing, he could see blood on several rocks across from where they were. He yelled for the other group and began walking towards the other side. He stuck close to the river bank the whole time and eventually ended up across with only his ankles wet. Bellamy and Murphy both decided to run across the river, never minding how deep it was when they came out to the other side nearly their whole bodies were wet, not that it mattered to them. He crouched down as they all inspected the bloody rock, Clarke dragged her fingers across it and muttered that it was still warm and Monty was probably nearby.

James tried to track the blood trail for hours and kept on failing, he kept on losing the trail or leading the group in circles. When they did finally manage to find Monty the sky was dark, and the forest grew with noise from wild animals. They found Monty hung on a tree, a wound on the left side of his chest, there was some kind of green paste texture that was rubbed on top of it. Clarke so focused on Monty did not see the trap that was dug in front of the tree and would've fallen into spikes if Bellamy hadn't caught her. He held on to her arm, and looked at her with intensity, trying to decide if letting her fall was a good idea or not, thankfully after only a moment he had his answer and pulled her up with the help of Wells and Murphy. While that was happening, James had gotten the knife out from his pocket and had climbed the tree, cutting Monty down was easy enough and he managed to set him on the ground gently.

After that the rescue team heard a menacing growl coming from behind them, Bellamy got out a gun somehow, Wells and Murphy got out their knives and they all prepared for a fight. Ever so slowly a panther dark as night leapt out of the grass directly at Wells, Bellamy fired some shots into the beast, but it would not be deterred as it stalked back into the tall grass. Even though it was gone, growling could still be heard, it meant the beast was still around. Turning his head to see his surroundings, James didn't see the panther leap at him and it managed to dig his claw into his back. Pain exploded unto his shoulder, he could hear shots being fired again, and somebody screaming. He didn't know if it was him or Clarke or anyone else, all he could focus on was the pain tearing his back apart. He fell to his knees, the panther struck again this time from the side, but James could see it coming and held the knife protectively in front of him. The panther landed on him his hungry jaw snapping at his head, yet it could not reach him with his arms holding the beast away, quickly he plunged the knife again and again to the side of the head. The panther wounded from gunshots lost his grip and fell dead beside him, adrenaline had seemed to take away the pain for a few moments and he stood up walking towards the dropship once more. He didn't make it more than five minutes before he collapsed on his knees and darkness claimed him.

* * *

 **Author's Note: This is my new chapter for Prisoner 365, I'm still trying to figure out a good word length for each chapter, but I think 5-10k words is a good range to have. I meant to upload this late monday night, but the website was down.**

 **My senior year just started so, I probably won't update on a fixed schedule, but as soon as I can I will. Check my profile for updates on new chapters**

 **For the two who reviewed, Wolfking and Cerion, thanks it made me feel all gooey inside.**

 **As for pairing well, that's a secret (really I just haven't committed to who I want James to be with, though rest assured it's not a harem)**

 **That's all thanks folks enjoy!**


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